"27, 1924. It was the second time (the first was in 1900) that Paris hosted the Games. The Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir in the Paris suburbs was the main venue. Forty-four nations took part in 126 different events in 17 sports. Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, took part for the last time, and personally awarded the medals. Winners included British runners Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams, whose participation was the subject of the film ""Chariots of Fire"". The American Johnny Weissmuller, who later became famous as a film actor playing Tarzan, won three gold medals and one"
"the subject than any other runner of his day. Harold Abrahams Harold Maurice Abrahams, CBE (15 December 1899 – 14 January 1978) was an English track and field athlete. He was Olympic champion in 1924 in the 100 metres sprint, a feat depicted in the 1981 movie ""Chariots of Fire"". Abrahams's father, Isaac, was a Jewish immigrant from Poland, then Congress Poland as part of the Russian Empire. He worked as a financier, and settled in Bedford with his Welsh Jewish wife, Esther Isaacs. Harold was born in Bedford, and was the younger brother of another British athlete, the Olympic"
"Harold Abrahams Harold Maurice Abrahams, CBE (15 December 1899 – 14 January 1978) was an English track and field athlete. He was Olympic champion in 1924 in the 100 metres sprint, a feat depicted in the 1981 movie ""Chariots of Fire"". Abrahams's father, Isaac, was a Jewish immigrant from Poland, then Congress Poland as part of the Russian Empire. He worked as a financier, and settled in Bedford with his Welsh Jewish wife, Esther Isaacs. Harold was born in Bedford, and was the younger brother of another British athlete, the Olympic long jumper Sir Sidney Abrahams. Another brother, Sir Adolphe"
"Owens' 100 m victory at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (one of four gold medals he won at the games) helped challenge notions of white supremacy that were popular during that era. The Olympic 100 metres has been covered by several film documentaries. ""Chariots of Fire"", a 1981 historical drama focusing on Harold Abrahams' victory at the 1924 Paris Olympics, is among the most prominent. The film won four Academy Awards, is often listed among polls for the best sports and Olympics films., and was ranked 19th in the British Film Institute's 100 Best British Films Wilma Rudolph was a central"
"among the youth, as a deliberate ""Anglicisation"" campaign designed to speed their adoption of British character traits and cultural values. The youth themselves eagerly participated, although the rising middle class status after the Second World War led to a sharp falloff of interest in younger generations. The most celebrated of the Jewish athletes in Britain was Harold Abrahams (1899–1978)-– the man made famous by the film ""Chariots of Fire"" for winning the gold medal in the 100 metre sprint in the 1924 Paris Olympics. Abrahams was thoroughly Anglicised, and his cultural integration went hand-in-hand with his sporting achievements. He became"
"Edinburgh launched a high performance sports scholarship named after Liddell. It was announced during a visit by Patricia Russell, Liddell's oldest daughter. The 1981 film ""Chariots of Fire"" chronicles and contrasts the lives and viewpoints of Liddell and Harold Abrahams. One inaccuracy surrounds Liddell's refusal to race in the 100-metre event at the 1924 Paris Summer Olympics. The film portrays Liddell as finding out that one of the heats was to be held on a Sunday as he boards the boat that will take the British Olympic team across the English Channel to Paris. In reality, the schedule and Liddell's"
"and racing, are accepted to represent Great Britain in the 1924 Olympics in Paris. Also accepted are Abrahams' Cambridge friends, Lord Andrew Lindsay (Nigel Havers), Aubrey Montague (Nicholas Farrell), and Henry Stallard (Daniel Gerroll). While boarding the boat to Paris for the Olympics, Liddell discovers the heats for his 100-metre race will be on a Sunday. He refuses to run the race, despite strong pressure from the Prince of Wales and the British Olympic committee, because his Christian convictions prevent him from running on the Sabbath. Hope appears when Liddell's teammate Lindsay, having already won a silver medal in the"
"Stallard competed at the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris; he won the bronze medal in the 1500 metres and finished fourth in the 800 metres, despite sustaining a stress fracture in the right foot in the 1500 m heats. He was portrayed by Daniel Gerroll in the 1981 Oscar-winning movie ""Chariots of Fire"". Stallard is the only athlete that won the Amateur Athletic Association of England titles over 440 yd (1925), 880 yd (1924), and mile (1923). He withdrew at the last minute from the 1926 AAA Championships after a copious blood donation to a patient at his hospital."
"m, and Harry Edward, third in the 100 m. He led Harold Abrahams to win a gold medal in the 100 m and silver in the 4 × 100 m at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, France. Mussabini's success at the 1924 Olympics was portrayed in the film ""Chariots of Fire"" in which Mussabini is played by Ian Holm. After filming Ian Holm exchanged letters to living relatives of Mussabini concerned about accuracy. His trainees won further medals at the 1928 Olympic Games after his death. In 1998, the Mussabini Medal was created, to celebrate the contribution of coaches"
"Ben Cross Harry Bernard Cross (born 16 December 1947), known professionally as Ben Cross, is an English stage and film actor, best known for his portrayal of the British Olympic athlete Harold Abrahams in the 1981 film ""Chariots of Fire"" and as Sarek in the 2009 reboot film ""Star Trek"". Cross was born Harry Bernard Cross, in London, to a working class Catholic family, with Irish ancestry. His mother was a cleaning woman and his father a doorman and nurse. Cross was educated at Bishop Thomas Grant Secondary Modern School in Streatham, South London. Cross initially worked in various jobs"
"is featured in the film Chariots of Fire), Alan Wells, the Olympic 100m winner in 1980, and Chris Hoy, winner of six cycling gold medals in 2004, 2008 and 2012. Scotland have only ever won one Olympic medal as ""Scotland"", when the men's field hockey team won a bronze medal at the 1908 Summer Games. This was also the only occasion when either England (gold) or Wales (bronze) have won a medal in their own right; and was Ireland's only medal (silver) prior to independence. The curling gold medal in Chamonix in 1924 was won by the Royal Caledonian Curling"
"years during which he achieved his greatest successes. A plaque from the Heritage Foundation was unveiled at his birthplace, Rutland Road in Bedford, on 8 July 2012. This coincided with the Olympic torch relay passing through the town. Abrahams was immortalised in the 1981 film ""Chariots of Fire"", in which he was played by British actor Ben Cross. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. His memorial service serves as the framing device for the movie, which tells his story and that of Liddell. Abrahams was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1981 and"
"30 years before Abrahams' death. The film takes some liberties with the events at the 1924 Olympics, including the events surrounding Liddell's refusal to race on a Sunday. In the film, he doesn't learn that the 100-metre heat is to be held on the Christian Sabbath until he is boarding the boat to Paris. In fact, the schedule was made public several months in advance; Liddell did however face immense pressure to run on that Sunday and to compete in the 100 metres, getting called before a grilling by the British Olympic Committee, the Prince of Wales, and other grandees,"
"Ian Charleson Ian Charleson (11 August 1949 – 6 January 1990) was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film ""Chariots of Fire"". He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev. Charlie Andrews in the 1982 Oscar-winning film ""Gandhi"". Charleson was a noted actor on the British stage as well, with critically acclaimed leads in ""Guys and Dolls"", ""Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"", ""Fool for Love"", and ""Hamlet"", among many others. He performed numerous Shakespearean roles, and in"
"Oxford and Cambridge universities. One of the club's founding members was Aubrey Montague, who like Abrahams is also immortalised in the 1981 film ""Chariots of Fire"". A sprinter and long jumper since his youth, he continued to compete in running while at Cambridge. He earned a place in the 1920 Olympic team, but was eliminated in the quarter-finals of both the 100 m and 200 m, and finished 20th in the long jump. He was also part of the British relay team that took fourth place in the 4 × 100 m. Although Abrahams dominated British long jump and sprint"
"and Ben Cross who played Abrahams in the film ""Chariots of Fire"". ""Only think of two things – the gun and the tape. When you hear the one, just run like hell until you break the other."" Sam Mussabini Scipio Africanus ""Sam"" Mussabini (6 August 1867 – 12 March 1927) was an athletics coach best known for his work with Harold Abrahams. In total, he led athletes to eleven medals over five Olympic Games. However, in an era where amateurism was prized, he was not officially recognised because he was a professional coach. Mussabini was born in Blackheath, London of"
"m race, and the 400 m race won by Eric Liddell, are depicted in the movie ""Chariots of Fire"", which was released in 1981 – five years before Scholz's death at the age of 89. He was played in the film by actor Brad Davis. Scholz made a third Olympic appearance in 1928. As the reigning champion, he placed fourth in the 200 m. During the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, an American Express credit card commercial (""Don't leave home without it"") included Ben Cross and the 87-year-old Scholz. When Cross—who portrayed Abrahams in the film ""Chariots of Fire""—said something about"
"Heels: The Making of ""Chariots of Fire"""" and """"Chariots of Fire"": A Reunion"" are both also dedicated to his memory. Ian Charleson Ian Charleson (11 August 1949 – 6 January 1990) was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film ""Chariots of Fire"". He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev. Charlie Andrews in the 1982 Oscar-winning film ""Gandhi"". Charleson was a noted actor on the British stage as well, with critically acclaimed leads in ""Guys and Dolls"", ""Cat"
"dined together at 7 pm on 7 July every year thereafter, until Abrahams' death. The race was later immortalised in the film ""Chariots of Fire"", but due to Porritt’s modesty his name was changed to ""Tom Watson"". He also won two qualifying races in the 200 m, but did not advance in the semi-final. Porritt was captain of the New Zealand team at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, but withdrew from the 100 m because of an injury. Porritt is only one of two people to have the rare honour of twice being the New Zealand flag bearer at"
"and Dramatic Art. Abrahams, a former Olympic gold medalist runner, also set up the Sybil Abrahams Memorial Trophy, presented each year from 1964 onward at Buckingham Palace by the Duke of Edinburgh, President of the British Amateur Athletics Association, to the best British woman athlete. Evers' first marriage was to publisher Noel Brack in 1926. That marriage soon ended in divorce. In early 1934, Sybil met Abrahams, the subject of the 1981 film ""Chariots of Fire"", and they began a passionate on-and-off romance. According to his biographer Mark Ryan, Abrahams had a fear of commitment and old-fashioned ideas about the"
"in the 1852 publication of ""Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible"" regarding military arms at the time of Paul the Apostle (c. 5 – c. 67): For pioneering the use of spikes, J.W. Foster and Sons's revolutionary running pumps appear in the book, ""Golden Kicks: The Shoes that changed Sport"". The company began distributing shoes across the United Kingdom and were worn by British athletes. They were made famous by 100m Olympic champion Harold Abrahams (who would be immortalized in the Oscar winning film ""Chariots of Fire"") in the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris. In 1934, American football player"
"Harold Osborn Harold Marion Osborn D.O. (April 13, 1899 – April 5, 1975) was a U.S. track athlete. He won a gold medal in Olympic decathlon and high jump in 1924. The apex of the athletic career of Harold M. Osborn occurred at the 1924 Olympic games in Paris, France (the games of the VIII Olympiad, featured in the popular film, Chariots of Fire). Osborn was the first and, to this day, the only athlete ever to win gold in both the decathlon and an individual event. Harold Marion Osborn was born April 13, 1899, the fourth child and third"
"Abrahams had a fear of commitment and old-fashioned ideas about the role of women in marriage, but he was able to overcome these, and the couple wed in December 1936. In the film ""Chariots of Fire"", Evers is misidentified as D'Oyly Carte soprano Sybil Gordon (portrayed by Alice Krige), and the film portrays the couple as meeting a decade earlier than they actually did. Abrahams cut a strip of gold off his Olympic medal to make the bridal wedding ring. Both the medal and the ring (following Sybil's death) were later stolen, on separate occasions. Sybil Evers could not have"
"He returned to China in 1925 to serve as a missionary teacher. Aside from two furloughs in Scotland, he remained in China until his death in a Japanese civilian internment camp in 1945. Liddell's Olympic training and racing, and the religious convictions that influenced him, are depicted in the Oscar-winning 1981 film ""Chariots of Fire"", in which he is portrayed by fellow Scot Ian Charleson. Eric Liddell, often called the ""Flying Scotsman"" after the record breaking locomotive, was born 16 January 1902, in Tientsin, China, the second son of the Reverend and Mrs. James Dunlop Liddell, Scottish missionaries with the"
"Bulgaria. He has been married three times: first to Penny, from 1977 to 1992, with whom he has two children; then to Michelle until 2005, and on 18 August 2018 wearing Bulgarian folk dress, a traditional wedding in front of many thousands spectators during the folklore festival in Zheravna, Bulgaria to the Bulgarian Deyana. In October 2014 he became a grandfather. Ben Cross Harry Bernard Cross (born 16 December 1947), known professionally as Ben Cross, is an English stage and film actor, best known for his portrayal of the British Olympic athlete Harold Abrahams in the 1981 film ""Chariots of"
"in ""Trial by Jury"". In 1931, Gordon moved to Canada. There, from November 1931 to February 1932, she sang in all 13 extant Gilbert and Sullivan operas in radio broadcasts on the CBC, on the C-I-L-sponsored ""Opera House of the Air"". In the 1981 film ""Chariots of Fire"", Olympic runner Harold Abrahams's fiancée is misidentified as Sybil Gordon (portrayed by Alice Krige). In reality, his fiancée, whom he did not actually meet until a decade after the 1924 Olympics, was Sybil Evers, who sang small roles with D'Oyly Carte from 1930 to 1931. Also in the film, ""Sybil Gordon"" is"
"British athletes. They were made famous by 100m Olympic champion Harold Abrahams (who would be immortalized in the Oscar winning film ""Chariots of Fire"") in the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris. In 1958, in Bolton, two of the founder's grandsons, Joe and Jeff Foster, formed a companion company ""Reebok,"" having found the name in a South African dictionary won in a running race by Joe Foster as a boy. The name is Afrikaans for the grey rhebok, a type of African antelope. In 1979, at the Chicago International Sneaker Trade show an American businessman, Paul Fireman, took notice of"
"Sons. Foster opened a small factory called Olympic Works, and gradually became famous among athletes for his ""running pumps"". For pioneering the use of spikes, the company's revolutionary running pumps appear in the book, ""Golden Kicks: The Shoes that changed Sport"". The company began distributing shoes across the United Kingdom and were worn by British athletes, and were made famous by 100m Olympic champion Harold Abrahams (who would be immortalized in the Oscar winning film ""Chariots of Fire"") in the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris. Joe died in 1933, 18 months before his second grandson is born in 1935"
"Horatio Fitch Horatio May Fitch (December 16, 1900 Chicago, Illinois – May 4, 1985 Estes Park, Colorado) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres. He competed for the United States in the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris in the 400 metres where he won the silver medal, an event memorialized by the 1982 hit movie ""Chariots of Fire"". The race winner was Eric Liddell, who had passed up the 100 metre dash, his specialty, because it was being held on Sunday. After graduating with a degree in engineering, Fitch went to work for a company"
"David Johnson (Canadian runner) David Moffat Johnson (April 30, 1902 – January 3, 1973) was born in Lachine, Quebec and was a Canadian track runner. He was Canada's top performer in athletics at the Olympic Games of 1924 held in Paris, where he finished fourth in two events, including the 400-metre race which was won by Scotland's Eric Liddell, who was immortalised in the film ""Chariots of Fire"". He was a star athlete at McGill University in Montreal, where he led the varsity track and field team to four consecutive championships in the 1920s. After graduating with an arts degree"
"again to Hurlingham Park stadium, which had been opened by Roger Bannister four months after he had broken the four-minute mile barrier. The club moved its base yet again in 1966 to Crystal Palace, then returned to Hurlingham in 1972 and later used Motspur Park, one of the locations in the film, “Chariots of Fire”. LAC President Sir Arthur Gold appeared in the film’s depiction of the memorial service for Harold Abrahams. Today the club uses Barn Elms athletic track in west London as its base. London Athletic Club was the leading track and field club in the 1870s, illustrated"
"110 yd, which is slightly more than 100 m, in 10.2 seconds. It wasn't until 1956 that the world record for the 100 m became lower than Paddock's time. Paddock broke or equaled several other world records over Imperial distances. At the 1924 Olympics, Paddock again qualified for both the 100 and 200 m finals, but he was less successful than four years earlier; he finished 5th in the 100 m and won another silver medal in the 200 m. Paddock was not a part of the relay team. In ""Chariots of Fire"", the 1981 Oscar-winning film about those races,"
"used them, and Montague, as a means to introduce scenes and connect events in the film. Evelyn Aubrey Montague Evelyn Aubrey Montague (20 March 1900 – 30 January 1948) was an English athlete and journalist. He ran in the 1924 Paris Olympics, placing sixth in the steeplechase race. Montague is immortalised in the 1981 film ""Chariots of Fire"", where he is portrayed by Nicholas Farrell. Contrary to the film, however, he attended Oxford, not Cambridge, and went by the name Evelyn (""EEV-lin"") rather than Aubrey. Evelyn Montague was born in 1900 in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Lancashire. He was the son of journalist"